Political corruption, jobs reasons for the Greitens vote

I recently asked my readers why they voted for Eric Greitens for governor instead of Chris Koster, who had the endorsement of all the major farm organizations, including Farm Bureau, and also why they thought Right to Work would be good for Missouri.I received several intelligent replies and some that were not. You decide.

One reader, who works for a utility company in management, said a Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce meeting a couple of years ago convinced him Right to Work would be good for Missouri. The speaker, whose job was to find locations for manufacturers that wanted to locate in the Midwest, made a compelling case to him.He spoke about a manufacturer who wanted to build a plant with 1,600 employees in either Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky or Tennessee.He had been working for a couple of months when he got a call from the manufacturer to take Missouri off the list because it didn’t have Right to Work.This reader said the company ultimately located in Topeka, Kan.I called the Chamber of Commerce in Topeka and asked if they had any factories locate there in the past five years with 1,600 employees.They said the Mars Company built a factory in 2012 that currently has 250 employees.

I interviewed two construction workers, one an Ironworker with Local #10, the other an Operating Engineer with Local #101 in Kansas City.They had been bragging they voted for Trump and a straight Republican ticket. I asked if they were worried about Right to Work in Missouri and if they thought it would affect their union wages and benefits, and why they would vote for a governor who would sign a Right to Work bill.They replied they wanted to get the crooks out of Washington and Jefferson City, and they had huge retirement benefits.

I wish now I hadn’t asked why my readers voted for Greitens and Right to Work.